Dash Cameras, I want one but what's good?

[Dynomite1371]

I've thought of a dash cam for a while now. So maybe to offer a little help to protect this investment, I want to get one. I know nothing of these things, and I'd rather hear from Jeepers than just Amazon reviewers. So any advice? (Let's say under $200 bucks and I want small, good quality and 1080 video). They all plug in via 12 volt? What about AUX switches bank to connect,... possibly? Lets hear it.

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[Lurvis33]

Idk about dash cams but I use Fakespot to help sort the real Amazon reviews from the fake. https://www.fakespot.com/

 

[RonH]

I installed a Garmin 65W on my F-150 a couple of weeks ago. Thing is awesome, if a little pricey. Comes on when I start the truck, kicks back on if it detects motion while parked (have to hard wire it in to have this function). I love it. The hardwire kit was a piece of cake to install and the field of view is like 200 degrees or so, tags the video with position data, date, time, and speed. I bought mine from Crutchfield, and I've already got a second one for the Jeep sitting here...

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_150DCAM65W/Garmin-Dash-Cam-65W.html?search=garmin_65w&skipvs=T

Parking Cable

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-G0afuAAtIrn/p_150DCAMPRK/Garmin-Parking-Mode-Cable.html

Edited to correct where I got it...

 

[simpleJL]

Blackvue is the best, hands down.

I have used a few of their cameras for the past 4 years or so.

I have the DR650S currently. Dual channel. Front and rear cameras.

They record when parked if there is motion and/or movement (G-sensor). I also have the fancy black box that prevents battery drain beyond the ability to start the car.

I will be carrying my setup over from my Subaru to the JL when it shows up.

They are pricey though. $400 range. But well worth it.

A front and rear dash camera is one of the best insurance policies money can buy. You get what you pay for in this arena.

 

[simpleJL]

And as @RonH stated, you won't have any parking mode without hard wiring it. An AUX switch will be perfect for this.

 

[RonH]

Blackvue is the best, hands down.

I have used a few of their cameras for the past 4 years or so.

I have the DR650S currently. Dual channel. Front and rear cameras.

They record when parked if there is motion and/or movement (G-sensor). I also have the fancy black box that prevents battery drain beyond the ability to start the car.

I will be carrying my setup over from my Subaru to the JL when it shows up.

They are pricey though. $400 range. But well worth it.

A front and rear dash camera is one of the best insurance policies money can buy. You get what you pay for in this arena.

Wow...that is a nice setup. Kinda makes me wish I'd have seen them before the Garmin...but, I will say, this Garmin is clear as a bell day or night, and works flawlessly. I think I'll just chalk this one up to saving $150 and not look at the Blackvue site again...LOL

 

[BillyHW]

Are there any that record both front and back? Are there any that record front/back/left/right?

 

[simpleJL]

Wow...that is a nice setup. Kinda makes me wish I'd have seen them before the Garmin...but, I will say, this Garmin is clear as a bell day or night, and works flawlessly. I think I'll just chalk this one up to saving $150 and not look at the Blackvue site again...LOL

Haha. Blackvue is essentially the king of the dash cam world right now. And has been for a while.

Mine even has cloud storage abilities (I don't use that however). Pulling videos from it is fairly seamless from your phone over Wifi.

It also has built in GPS and logs the location with the video.

It's overly fancy, in fact.

I just love being able to forget it even exists. And have the ability to pull footage when needed. I feel that front and rear dual camera setups are crucial.

 

[simpleJL]

Are there any that record both front and back? Are there any that record front/back/left/right?

There are a handful of dual channel cameras out there. The one I mentioned is one of them.

I tried out a Thinkware camera before and was unimpressed compared to my blackvue.

As far as more cameras than 2 - I don't think there are any. There are some that shoot forward and have a back facing interior camera. They are generally referred to as Taxi style cameras. They'd be extremely good for Uber and Lyft drivers.

 

[simpleJL]

And here is an entire dash cam forum. Great place for information!

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/

 

[jeppesen.io]

I chose to use two dashcams, front and rear. I prefer to have two for redundancy. Also, better rear video quality without a cable front to rear.

I have two of these in the mail (Rexing V1 3rd gen). I like the wedge shape and HDR.

Use an older Rexing on my Miata and I'm happy with it.

 

[Romak82]

I've thought of a dash cam for a while now. So maybe to offer a little help to protect this investment, I want to get one. I know nothing of these things, and I'd rather hear from Jeepers than just Amazon reviewers. So any advice? (Let's say under $200 bucks and I want small, good quality and 1080 video). They all plug in via 12 volt? What about AUX switches bank to connect,... possibly? Lets hear it.

I have bought the Spytec A118C for all my family cars. Spytec has an Amazon store and they are reliable. The A118C has a capacitor for Hot Weather instead of a regular battery. You can have one for the front windshield and another one for the rear window.

 

[simpleJL]

I have bought the Spytec A118C for all my family cars. Spytec has an Amazon store and they are reliable. The A118C has a capacitor for Hot Weather instead of a regular battery. You can have one for the front windshield and another one for the rear window.

Spytec is just a rebrand of the chinese Street Guardian camera line.

There's like 5 different variations of that camera.

They work - but have no parking mode. Something to be aware of.

 

[will1111]

I bought a cheap action camera and mounted it on the windshield. The pros is that they have batteries that u could swap out so there's no cord that you have to run through the windshield, dashboard, etc. Last well over an hour but the only downside is that u have to turn it on and set it to record/stop everytime. It has better quality than most cheaper dash cams and you could use it outdoors.

Akaso is the brand I bought

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

Do any of these come with quick mount/dismount options? For those that will be in a soft-top I'd think having any shiny equipment being able to be quickly removed and then reattached would be kind of a must (heck, even with a hardtop I'd want to be able to do that).

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